Shadow Isles Comp Guide [Set 16]

Open Builder

Shadow Isles

105

Traits

Warden

2 > 3 > 4 > 5

Blacksmith

Harvester

Shadow Isles

2 > 3 > 4 > 5

Disruptor

2 > 4

Piltover

2 > 4 > 6

Vanquisher

2 > 3 > 4 > 5

Freljord

3 > 5 > 7

Tips & Tricks

Play Viego in the early game to increase your soul acquisition rate, but eventually (around Stage 4) you’ll want to transition out of having Viego on your board so you can play higher quality units.
Generally only play if you natural 2-star Viego early and can unlock Yorick immediately so you can start farming souls as soon as possible
Almost always play Fast 8, but in some rare circumstances you can go for Gwen 3 if you hit many copies or if you have a good artifact for her.
The basic concept for the board is Shadow Isle units + Wardens + Disruptor + Fiddlesticks. There are higher cap variations that involve Azir, so make sure to check the dropdown box above the board to see those variations.
Seraphine is a solid item holder for Thresh (Void + Morello). The guide is NOT recommending building two Void Staffs and Morellos.
Late game you will want to drop down to 2 Shadow Isles (see the “Max Cap” variation).
Even though Kalista is a Vanquisher, Infinity Edge (IE) is an acceptable item on her. Part of why is because you generally don’t want to play any Vanquisher that isn’t Fiddlesticks, which you might miss during your level 8 rolldown. With IE, your spell can still crit even without the Vanquisher.

Strong Conditions

+2 Tier Conditions →

+1 Tier Conditions →

Openers

Shadow Isle

Viego

Twisted Fate

Xin Zhao

Yorick

Draven

Thresh

Gwen

Kalista

Loris

Yorick

Economy Strategy

Level to 4 if you have upgrades and a good item to place on one of those upgrades.
Level to 5, unless on 3 loss streak.
Level to 6 if on 4+ win streak (scout to see if necessary in high elo) or can stay above 40g.
Level to 6, unless you would go below 30g. If you have to stay level 5 due to low gold (rare), then level to 6 on 3-5.
Level to 7 if you can stay above 30g, otherwise stay level 6.
Level to 7.
Level to 8. Roll for desired comp until stable. “Stable” changes depending on rank, items, augments, composition, and patch. Melee carries and tanks get the biggest spike for 2-stars. Usually stable involves 2-star tank or carry and some other supporting 2-stars. Try not to roll below 10g.
If you are weak (e.g., have no 2-star 4-costs), consider rolling again to 10g here. If you are stable, save gold to go 9.
If you are low HP and haven’t 2-starred your carry and tank, roll to 0g. If you have medium to high HP with an upgraded + itemized 4-cost unit and some other upgrades, save gold to go 9.
If high HP, consider waiting until 5-5 to go level 9. If medium HP, consider going level 9 if you can roll 20g or wait until 5-5. If low HP and can afford to go 9, do so even if you have almost no gold to roll on 9. If you can’t afford to go 9 this game, roll every turn for upgrades.
Level to 9 if possible. From this point onward, look to level to 9. Acknowledge games where level 9 is not possible and roll every turn on 8 to preserve placements.
For max cap games, you can either roll on 9 or level to 10. If you are itemizing a 5-cost carry and it is 1-starred, roll on 9. If you have all your main itemized units upgraded, level to 10.

18 Comments

SI = stronger Bulgewater 16.3 | January 25, 2026Reply
I propose this to be an alternative max cap: https://www.metatft.com/team-builder/_CgUIyAUQAgoFCMoFEAMKBQi3BRAECgUIpgUQBQoFCJIFEAYKBQieBRAVCgUIugUQFwoFCLwFEBkKBQiDBRAbGBUgAA%3D%3D

Ryze benefits a lot from both Shadow Isles and Shurima, and it’s really easy to unlock Ryze when you have Azir, since you would already have SI + Shurima + Piltover active across 6 units. Ornn / Braum goes in at level 10, or can go over Fiddle if Kalista doesn’t need Vanquisher to crit. You can also drop Targon, but Taric is pretty good in this meta.

Shadow Isles: Increase blast damage by 5% (+1% per 8 Souls). <- this seems above average for Ryze region effects? At 200 souls, that's a total of 30% damage increase.
Shurima: Knock up enemies for 0.5 seconds, with a chance to dredge up Gold or Treasures.
SI = weaker Bulgewater 16.2 | January 19, 2026Reply
Feels like Going Long would be pretty good for the same reason as Hustler, though the upcoming patch would almost certainly change both into bad augments for this comp
Anonymous 16.2 | January 18, 2026Reply
got 3x viego + 2 items (adaptive and rod ) on 1-4, played for max cap with Pilfer, Precsion and Grace, Sword Smith (1 econ 1 combat 1 item), played for max cap board and went 1st place easy in plat 1 ty for the guides, i feel like im always learning more every time I play one of your boards, this comp is very good if you can get viego early enough to farm souls
Anonymous 16.2 | January 13, 2026Reply
i tried the max cap few times but seems weaker, the data says drop to 4 shadow isles + 1 better than the maxcap azir/mel version
1. GM Blue 16.2 | January 14, 2026Reply
  Ignore the data for a moment, use your head. I promise you the “Max Cap” board is the stronger board if you don’t have Viego hero augment. Just look at the massive gap in unit quality. Renekton is a win condition that this comp otherwise doesn’t have. Renekton is a key part of what makes the “Max Cap” board way stronger. Xerath likely goes a long way too if you have items for him. Nasus is by far the worst, but you still can unlock Renekton if you stabilize (the issue is stabilizing on Nasus when you already have so much frontline).
  1. Anonymous 16.2 | January 14, 2026Reply
    ikr, I still believe the by-value maximum cap version is absolutely better, but I don’t know why the data says otherwise, showing a huge difference (delta) of almost +0.3X.”
rob 16.2 | January 9, 2026Reply
this is really good with mittens + bt + titans on viego
Firer 16.1c | December 22, 2025Reply
Is strikers flail better on Kalista than IE once you got vanquisher activated?
Anonymous 16.1c | December 18, 2025Reply
im not sure abt the “max cap” version. I had mel azir at 4-2 and insane high hp / winstreaking and im losing with mel 2 thresh 3 items, nasus 2 with tank items. I went 7th, losing all of stage 5, specifically to 5 – piltover t-hex 1*, yordle reroll, and trynd/ashe reroll with no special conditions
Zeke 16.1b | December 13, 2025Reply
Staffsmith goes crazy in this comp, especially if you don’t have your antiheal/shred built yet. 7/8 of the rod items are basically BiS on one of Thresh/Fiddle/Seraphine (even Gwen if you really have a ton of items). Rageblade is the only middling option, but you can still consider it a mana item for Kalista/Seraphine.
Anonymous 16.1 | December 6, 2025Reply
so unbelievably dogshit – i had 10 on 5-5 with every unit 2 star itemized + orrn item on tank + annie 2 with items and still couldn’t find kalista 3 nor finish first. ended up losing to the lvl9 bilge player that literally only rolled a 3 star naut. yeah f this comp. that shit don’t make sense
Anonymous 16.1 | December 5, 2025Reply
you should add comps that are safe to pivot to
Anonymous 16.1 | December 5, 2025Reply
star is born feels strong if you find viego with it, it guarantees yorick two on the second round.
Anonymous 16.1 | December 4, 2025Reply
Fast 9 i think stonger version of reroll can have viego and kinred
Shinji 16.1 | December 3, 2025Reply
In stage 2/3 you can slot in TF/Naut/Illaoi or Gangplank to farm an early Naut 2 and a few gold by buying champs. Naut 2 into Ornn with Viego holding Thresh item is awesome. Gangplank can also stay till you got Fiddle. Incase you got emblem, Tibber and Annie pair is crazy. Gwen 3 is a myth btw
Anonymous 15.9 | November 25, 2025Reply
Why IE on Kalista? Her ability already crits due to Vanquisher – surely the raw stats don’t justify it over something else?
1. Anonymous 15.9 | November 29, 2025Reply
  I think strikers flails is a better option
Anonymous 15.9 | November 24, 2025Reply
Good if have the encounter (Upgraded champion: start with 2 star 1 cost champion- Viego)

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18 Comments